December 28, 2006

Waking up early is hard enough as it is and the winter mornings just make it all that much harder. Well here’s a cool item that helps, or rather forces you to wake up. Like your typical alarm clock with a snooze button, the Nanda Clocky comes with a slight variation – wheels. The Nanda Clocky rolls away looking for places to hide in the room when you hit the snooze button. Playing hide and seek with this in the morning will pretty much ensure that you will get up when you have to. The Clocky comes in white, aqua and mint.

December 27, 2006

Here’s the new commercial for the Nokia N95 that’s scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2007. Some unique features that the phone offers is a built-in GPS navigation system, a 5 megapixel camera to produce DVD-like quality videos, and 150MB of internal memory. Be on the lookout for the phone when it drops. More info at MobileMag.

December 24, 2006

This is something I need in the morning. Especially when I’m fanatically trying to make it on time for work or class, I wouldn’t mind having this LED message mirror from SUCK UK in my restroom. You can also customize the font and add special effects from a remote control or your PC. Although the only things you can display is the time, date and personalized messages, it still looks pretty cool and as long as you have 300 euros to blow, it seems like a great item (or one of those cool things you love to brag about) for your home. With this mirror available for retail sale, you can’t help but predict that soon enough we will have widgets on our mirror providing the essential information we need.

December 21, 2006

I’m loving this retro looking radio created by UK manufacturers Roberts Radio. The radio called “Revival” is the proper throwback to the significant style of the 1950s. “Revival”‘s wooden cases are made by British craftsmen and covered with a choice of leatherette, real leather or suedette. It comes in various colours and available through their website.

December 3, 2006

Check out the new LG concept laptop known as the ‘ebook’. It’s supposedly very ecological, as it uses OLED (organic light-emitting diode) for the screen rather than the traditional LCDs that laptops use. In addition, OLED screens will consume less energy and will not require a frame around them. This laptop was chosen as one of the 12 winners for the internationally renowned German industrial design award, the Red Dot Award, for its stylish design. However, not to burst your bubble but the costs of putting together such a laptop are really great, so we won’t be seeing such a product in the near future. But definately something to look forward to in the future. Info from Laptoping.com.

November 22, 2006

Samsung has just developed the world’s slimmest LCD mobile display. Measuring at just 0.82mm thick and touting a 2.1/2.2-inch surface area, it features 240 x 320 QVGA resolution, 500:1 contrast ratio, 300nits brightness, and “i-Lens” technology. I can’t wait to see what Samsung has planned in the future as they give a good run to current mobile phones boasting ‘thinness’ such as Motorola’s RAZR.

November 18, 2006

As part of the Article exhibition that is taking place in Norway this week, Simon Morris shows his Musique Concrete project. This project combines sounds to the real-time movements of skateboarding. Sensors mounted on the bottom of the skateboards respond to the vibrations, accelerations and rotations. In turn, these sensors triggers real-time sounds detected from the movements of the skateboarder and sent to a wireless connected computer via radio protocol. So pretty much, while skateboarding, you can compose rhythms and songs by your movements. Read more here.

November 17, 2006

Check out the first audio product that Ferrari has ever licensed. David Weiner has constructed the ART.ENGINE audio system is pretty much a stand-alone audio system that can be connected wirelessly or via RCA inputs. It can also be connected with traditional line level sources for MP3 players. These speakers are available in red and silver and are limited to 1000 pieces. The going price for these speakers will be $20,000. Read the article here.

November 9, 2006

When it comes to ‘fashionable’ keyboards, the diNovo Edge takes the cake. After a few years of releasing the first generation models, Logitech is set to replace it with a completely new design. The most prominent of all features is its ‘thinness’ measuring in at only 11mm. The keyboard also comes with backlit keys which appear when in use and fade into the background when idle. Along with its Bluetooth capabilities and an elegant charging stand, this is sure to set a standard for stylish keyboards on the market today. It goes for $199 US, is not yet available in Canada, and I want one.

November 8, 2006

Although not really new info, here’s a really sleek concept phone that Nokia has come up with. Known as the ‘Aeon’, this phone will have a touchscreen that will cover one surface of the extremely thin phone. Although not as exciting as the bendable Nokia 888 (possibly fake??), the Aeon seems to be more realistic and hopefully we will see it soon in the time horizon. See more here.

November 8, 2006

After months upon months of speculation, Apple has released their new line of Core 2 Duo Macbooks providing better battery life, faster processing speed, more RAM & bigger hard drives. Replacing the original Intel Core Duo macbooks, it comes in similar configurations (2 white, 1 black) and has subtle changes which are all internal. Similarily to the Macbook Pros, all changes are performance upgrades. Prices range from $1099 – 1499 USD (the Canadian store is down at the moment.) While I recently purchased a Black Macbook just two months earlier, this is the worst possible news ever. That is why I will end the post here.

November 5, 2006

What do you get when a company producing top of the line electronics comes together with another that stresses elegance in their product design? Well, Bang&Olufsen and Samsung have teamed up to produce a new cellphone known as Serene. This phone strays away from the typical design of a flip phone as the screen is placed on the lower shell rather than the top one. It is also much wider and has a thumb operated wheel in the middle of a circular dialpad. The Serene focuses on the basic communicating functions and usages of a cellphone, ensuring a fast and intuitive operation. See more at SereneMobile.

November 1, 2006

The immensely speculated Apple iPhone is one step closer to coming out as U.S. mobile carrier Cingular have established a deal with Apple. The iPhone apparently will combine a cellular phone with iTunes and Apple’s recently launched Internet TV services. The Apple iPhone could be introduced as soon as in January at the San Francisco Macworld conference. Read more here.

October 31, 2006

BKRW has a nice article and a few pics of the Adidas Mi Innovation Center at the newAdidas Sport Performance Store in Paris. It seems as though Adidas is following the footsteps of Nike ID for customizing shoes, but only Adidas is taking it a step further with the customization for performance also rather than just aesthetically. They even have a machine where you run on a video carpet to analyze your actions. Visit BKRW for the review or Adidas for more info.

October 28, 2006

Don’t be fooled by the man in the beginning of the video. I know, it’s funny because he looks exactly like a long-haired Michael Imperioli (Christopher from “The Sopranos”). But this is serious shit. Very intriguing work coming out of the Microsoft Live Labs. Photosynth allows users to walk through virtual/3D worlds via a photo database. Surprised it’s coming out of Microsoft of all places. No word yet on whether it will become an application or whether it will be available for open-source. I would love a program like this to manage the hundreds of hundreds of photos I take of one thing. For photographers or people in New Media (whatever that is..HA), this is something you should definitely check out. A lot of potential in this project.

October 24, 2006

After a year of speculation and anticipation, Apple released its new Macbook Pro line today. Notable changes include replacing the old line with Intel Core 2 Duo, increased processor speed by 37%, new memory upgrades starting at 1GB, and hard drive space. It also provides added firewire 800 support. The new MBPs come in 15 and 17 inch models and are priced at $2199+. More details can be found on the Apple site.

October 16, 2006

Apple has just introduced their newly designed iPod Shuffle, which they boast to be the ‘world’s smallest digital music player’. The new 1 GB Shuffle looks to be roughly the size of a stick of gum … folded in half. It also has a clip so that you can conveniently clip it on articles of clothing.

October 14, 2006

Not exactly new but the most classy and stylish product I came across the internet today. For years, Denmark’s Bang&Olufsen have created elegant sound sytems for home, but now it seems they have made the move into car audio systems. The result is a 14 channel system offering amazing sound quality as well as stylish good looks. The speakers from the front actually elevate from the dashboard when the sound system is turned on.

October 13, 2006

The most x’s you’d see that’s not related to adult entertainment. Another interesting project I came across today from Freshness introducing their collaboration with Microsoft and GQ Taiwan. 10 different artists and designers, including SBTG and Dave White, showcased their work using a X-box as their canvas for the 10 year anniversary of GQ Taiwan. To top it off, these are being auctioned off on Yahoo! for charity.